Folding bed



(No Model.)

L. N. BACHAND.

FOLDING BED. No. 564,578. Patented July 21, 1.896.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEVI N. BACHAND, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FOLDING BED.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 564,578, dated July 21,1896.

Application filed May 25,1895. Serial No- 550,68'7. (No model.)

To all whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEVI N. BACHAND, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Folding Beds, (Case No.1,) of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart of this specification.

My invention relates to a folding bed, its object being to provide a-bedwhich, when folded, shall assume the form of a small article offurniture, as a chiffonnier or writingdesk, while, when unfolded, it mayassume the dimensions of a full-sized bed. 7

In accordance with my invention the bedbody is made in sections adaptedto be folded about a transverse axis or axes, one upon another, thebed-body being hinged or pivoted to the standard or frame of the articleof furniture at one side, so that the bed-body,when rotated into itsvertical position, rotates about a longitudinal axis. The height of thearticle of furniture need thus be made no greater than the width of thebed-body, while the width of the article offurniture need be no greaterthan half the length of the bed-bodythat is, a height of, say, four andone-half feet with a width of three feet.

I will describe my invention more particularly by reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 illustrates the folding bed ofmy invention in its folded form, the bedassuming the appearance of awriting-desk and case of drawers. Fig. 2 is a view illustrating the bedin its opened position. Fig. 3 is a detail view illustrating the endpiece which forms one side of the article of furniture when the bed isclosed and which forms a portion of the bottom of the bed-body when thebed is open. Fig. 4: is a detail view of the hinge connection upon whichthe bed-body swings. Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating an alternativemanner of subdividing the bed-body into sections.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the bed-body is formed in two halves orsections a and b, hinged or pivoted together so that the section b maybe folded upon the top of the section a. The legs 1) b are secured to across-piece 19 which is hinged to the end of section b, whereby the legsmay be folded into the plane of the bed-section when the bed is folded.To the side of section a is hinged the cross-piece a, which is formed tosimulate a drawer, and the legs a and a are secured to the crosspiece a,the cross-piece a and the legs a a resting against the face of section awhen the bed is folded, as illustrated in Fig. 1, and occupying aposition perpendicular thereto when the bed is opened, as illustrated inFig. 2, the legs thus supporting the bed-body. In front of the lower endof the section a, as seen in Fig. 1, are provided vertical pieces orbars 0 c, to the upper ends of which the section a is hinged, the lowerends of the pieces 0 c being hinged to the horizontal portion cl of theframe d, thus forming a hinged joint upon which the bed-body may beswung. The bedbody thus swings about an axis at a distance from the end,thus balancing the bed-body, so that the weight to be lifted in foldingthe bed is less than it would be if the pivotal connection were at theend of the bed-body. I preferably form the pieces 0 as shown in Fig. 4,in which the metal plate 0 is hinged at its upper end to the section aof the bed-body and at its lower end to the horizontal portion (1 of theframe, a piece of carved wood being glued or screwed to the face of themetal plate 0 to hide the same from view. Vertical bars e c are providedupon the frame, upon which sleeves ff are adapted to slide, the sleevesff being secured to a bar g, which is attached by its ends to the sidepiece (a of the bed-section a.

The bed being opened as shown in Fig. 2, and it being desired to .olosesame, the section I) is rotated to rest upon the top of section a, afterwhich the two sections are rotated into a vertical position, thebed-body swinging about the pieces 0 0, while the sleeves f f movedownward upon the vertical bars 6 e to guide the bed-body in itsmovement, the bed-body being rotated until the side piece a of section aand the side piece I) of section I) rest upon the horizontal portion ofthe frame or standard, the parts then occupying the position illustratedin Fig. 1. Upon section a of the bedbody is provided a cross-piece h, towhich the end piece h is hinged, whereby said piece 72/ may be rotatedeither into a horizontal position, as illustrated in Fig. 2, or into avertical IOC position. Upon section b of the bed-body is provided across-piece 7L upon which the end piece h rests when in a horizontalposition. When section b is rotated toward a vertical position, thecross-piece 712 engages the under side of end piece h and rotates thesame into a Verticalposition, the cross'piece 7L2 being situated at sucha position that it will pass over the upper end of the plate h when thesame occupies a vertical position, as illustrated in the dotted lines inFig. 4. The end piece h thus constitutes one side of the article offurniture when the bed is folded.

I have illustrated one form of my invention, but it is evident that thesame may be modified in the various details.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, isp 1. In a folding bed, the combination witha horizontal base, of a vertical standard, a bed-body formed intransversely-pivoted sections adapted to fold one upon another, saidsections being adapted when folded to rest upon said base and againstsaid standard, rocking arms or legs pivoted at one end to said base andat the other end to the main section of the bed-body, said arms restingin an oblique position with the upper ends eXtendin g toward thestandard when the bed is unfolded to press the side of the main sectionof the bed-body against the standard as an abutment, guiding devices fordirecting the movement of the main section, folding legs mounted uponthe forward side of the main section, folding legs upon the section orsections pivoted to the main section, and a hinged orpivoted side pieceforming the side of the article when the bed is folded and lyingparallel with the bed-body when the body is unfolded substantially asdescribed.

2. The combination with the sections a and b of the bed-body hinged orpivoted together, of the cross-piece it carried upon the section a, theend piece or board h hinged to said cross-piece, the cross-piece 72.carried upon section Z) against which said end piece is adapted to restwhen the sections are unfolded, said cross-piece 71 being so situatedthat when the section b is folded upon the top of section a saidcross-piece engages and moves the end piece into a vertical position;substantially as described.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 21st day of May, A.D. 1895.

, LEVI N. :EACHAND. lVitnesses:

W. CLYDE J onus, EDWIDGE BACHAND.

